11-10-17

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | november 10, 2017 | Volume 108 | Issue 65

PROFESSOR UNDERSCORES REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Laura Howe

For The Pitt News An older man in the audience of a reproductive rights lecture looked around the room and commented on the lack of people like him.

“You know, I think Rep. [Tim] Murphy summed up the whole problem, and that is men sort of abandon the issue or exclude themselves from the discussion until it immediately impacts them,” he said.

More than 100 people gathered in the Teplitz Memorial Moot Courtroom in the Barco Law Building to listen to Lois Shepherd, the presenter and a law professor at the University of Virginia, begin her talk about women’s reproductive rights, titled “How Reproductive Rights Have Failed Women and What to Do About It.” Students on the undergraduate and graduate levels attended the event. Emma Hundertmark, a senior bioengineering major, said she had to attend two events for her bioethics class and was motivated to attend this lecture because she considers herself a feminist.

“Mostly I’m here to learn about how the past year of politics has affected everything.

I’m not as up on the news as I probably See Reproductive on page 3

Former Pitt running back James Conner (center) and his Steelers’ teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster (right) joined the Panther Pitt during Pitt football’s loss to UNC Thursday night. John Hamilton MANAGING EDITOR

COMMUNITY QUESTIONS BIGELOW PLAN

longtime residents of Oakland questioning whether the changes would improve the commuting experience for all modes Bigelow Boulevard has always divided of traffic or simply create more congescampus, but now it’s dividing community tion. members as well.

The forum, hosted by the City of PittsThe finalized street safety plan for Biburgh and Pitt, took place in the Oakland gelow Boulevard — discussed during a Career Center. It featured a visual presencommunity forum Thursday night — left tation that took residents through each

Madison Hook For The Pitt News

improvement for Bigelow and showed what the updated street view would look like following the proposed implementation.

Justin Miller, transportation planner with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said the design plan came from a partnership beSee Bigelow on page 2

News Bigelow, pg. 1

tween the City of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, who all said the changes should positively impact the community.

“It’s a combined effort to take a fresh look at Bigelow Boulevard. Not only in its own context, but the greater Oakland and City context as well,” Miller said.

The projected plan includes extended sidewalks along each crosswalk on Forbes and Fifth avenues to ensure the safety of pedestrians from turning traffic, along with connecting bike lanes going along each side of Bigelow, as opposed to the interim bike lanes currently in place.

Fred Bonci, the landscape architect of the project, worked directly on the layout of the plan and created the prospective picture that outline the detailed improve-

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ments, which includes moving the current pedestrian sidewalk — which falls to the left of the Cathedral of Learning when facing the building — closer to the center of the block.

“It’ll improve the safety of the crossing because it’ll be further from cars turning from Fifth Avenue onto Forbes, as well as creating more stacking room in the left-hand turn lanes, which will eliminate congestion onto Fifth,” Bonci said.

Bonci also said the sides of the streets will be renovated to add stormwater management basins to remove flooding and drop-off areas to better accommodate the various Oakland shuttle systems.

Owen Cooks, Pitt’s assistant vice chancellor for planning, design and construction of facilities management, said the possible improvements to Bigelow have received positive reception from Justin Miller, transportation planner with the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said changes to Bigelow Boulevard should See Bigelow on page 7 positively impact the community. Roget Tu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Reproductive, pg. 1 should be, and I’m also really excited about the ‘what to do about it’ portion. I’d love to get involved in that,” she said.

Shepherd opened the lecture with an admission that she was going to address controversial topics, such as abortion, and clarified that she did not consider herself an expert on the subject of reproductive rights.

Although she has written about health law and bioethics throughout her career, she said writing about abortion and reproductive rights in a scholarly context is not easy.

“It’s a bit intimidating to do so. Emotions can be high, passions can be divisive.

It’s easy to mischaracterize a person’s position and assume a hostility towards a particular group, women or men or particular religious groups,” she said.

Shepherd said in recent years, the hostility has specifically been directed at women.

She admitted there are certain ideologies entering the mainstream that she thought would never be part of the reproductive rights conversation in 2017, including poignant instances of prominent men insulting and blatantly misunderstanding instances

of women’s health.

First came the Rush Limbaugh scandal in 2012, Shepherd said, in which he accused Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke — who advocated before Congress for contraception to be included in health insurance — of being a “slut” who was “having so much sex” she couldn’t afford contraception. Limbaugh said if taxpayers paid for Fluke’s contraception, they would in effect be “pimps.”

Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri appeared on live television later that year and criticized laws that made exceptions in abortion restrictions in cases of rape.

“From what I understand from doctors that’s really rare [for women to get pregnant from rape], if it’s a legitimate rape the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” he said in an interview.

Shepherd denounced his comments.

“So this was not only hugely ignorant ... this whole idea of some rape is legitimate and some is not, it questioned women’s reporting of rape,” she said.

These were the instances that compelled Shepherd to enter the discussion of women’s reproductive rights. After doing so, she noticed how many abortion restrictions have

arisen since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Since the case, 1,000 additional restrictions on abortion have been enacted — such as a ban on the dilation and evacuation method, which involves a surgical evacuation of the contents of the uterus — and 300 of them have been enacted since 2010.

Shepherd also discussed the rise of farright hate websites, which have weighed in with their own thoughts on the role of women’s reproductive rights. She referenced a neo-Nazi website called The Daily Stormer, which launched a personal attack on Heather Heyer — who was killed by a car that intentionally ran into counter protesters of a Unite the Right rally in North Carolina.

The website, which denounced Heyer as “fat” and “a drain on society,” since she was childless at the age of 32, has since lost its domain and is inaccessible.

“This is some of the rhetoric that is happening now with respect to certain alt-right groups about women’s roles,” Shepherd said.

“Is that really no great loss if she had died, if she was childless, if she wasn’t fulfilling her role of reproduction?”

Shepherd concluded her talk by point-

ing out language regarding abortion has focused on it being a choice rather than a right. In addition, the jurisdiction of choice is still given to the state and the physician rather than the woman.

After the lecture, Hundertmark said she thought it was informative and found it interesting when Shepherd explained the evolution of precedent surrounding what is legally considered abortion. But there were things she thought could’ve been improved. “[The lecture was] a little more big picture than I was hoping. There wasn’t much ‘this is what you should go out and do today,’” Hundertmark said.

But Shepherd did give a few suggestions on what needed to be done to promote reproductive equality. Shepherd said there is a need to foster a retaliatory dialogue to combat those who see women’s roles in society as limited to being “sexual objects” or “reproductive conduits or mothers.”

“Right now I think there’s an outright public hostility toward women, and a significant platform for people who appear to hold women in low regard,” she said. “So now I think I need to start talking about this subject and so do a lot of other scholars in the mainstream.”

The Pitt News SuDoku 11/10/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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November 10, 2017

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Opinions

column

Friday Fly: Cathedral Commons Room Maggie Koontz Columnist

“Friday Fly” is a recurring column dedicated to a fly on the wall’s perspective on campus spots and daily life here at Pitt. This is the second installment.

The Cathedral of Learning Commons Room is a feat of Gothic architecture, crafted out of limestone, slate and iron. Pathfinders passing through the cavernous room don’t fail to mention to each group of prospective students that the room bears a striking resemblance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Sitting underneath the high, arched ceiling, you get the sense this room is tinged with the slightest hint of magic.

The ornate stone walls reach up to create a dome that is four stories tall, with enormous lamps like flashlights dangling from chains. All around the room, the stone walls part to reveal the hallways of the first, second and third floors, giving a glimpse of students walking to class, unaware they are being observed. Those same students can also gaze across the whole room, surveying the area down below from the second or third floor.

As my view moves around the room, I see studious people hunched over notebooks or laptops and pairs of students helping each other. Two girls, one in a navy blue jacket and one in a black jacket, sit at a bench at the edge of the room. They straddle the bench, facing each other. Navy Blue Jacket is quizzing Black Jacket on American Sign Language. She makes a sign with her hand and then Black Jacket guesses, only for Navy Blue Jacket to correct her. They move on to the next sign and the quizzing continues.

Anyone who comes to work in the Commons Room is likely to hunker down for a bit.

Small octagonal tables are scattered all over the room with simple wooden chairs set around them. Usually a table is only occupied by one

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person, maybe two. Tables that look as though they have been used for a medieval feast with long benches like church pews border most of the room’s perimeter. Kingly thrones are set in the center of the room, backed against a stone column and only used by students as a last resort. Mostly, you see touring students and their families take photos in them.

At one of the many octagonal tables, a girl in a sweater slouches in her seat. A paper with a list of highlighted words is placed askew on top of a pink folder. There are three columns of terms which look to be scientific. On the table in front of her lies a whiteboard. The girl writes the words on the whiteboard, filling the space. She carefully reads over them again, then removes them with a couple of swipes of her eraser.

The first-floor hallway surrounds the Commons Room, cordoned off from the main space by an intricate black railing. In this hallway, small rectangular tables and benches sit tucked

in front of her, revealing an Excel spreadsheet on the screen. She types away at her keyboard for a bit before taking a lunch break. The girl pulls a black cloth lunch bag out of her gray backpack. She eats a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, munches on some pretzel sticks and then carefully peels back the skin of an orange before devouring that as well. She briefly watches as people move back and forth along the pathway in front of her. Then she returns to her spreadsheet, tapping away.

An older man in a colorful sweater sits at the other end of the bench.

He sifts through a stack of papers, every page covered in text. Perhaps he is a professor grading midterms or essays. Pen in hand, he marks up the pages with a quick check here and a couple of words there. Sometimes, the man nods to himself. Other times, a frown appears on his face before he shakes his head and then Garrett Aguilar STAFF ILLUSTRATOR scribbles something on the paper.

The Cathedral sits at what feels like into the wall in small alcoves facing the Comthe heart of campus, and the constant mons Room. These tables simultaneously offer signs of activity in this stony chamber make it privacy and exposure due to their placement a seem like you can almost feel the University’s bit above the others. Students sit like statues, pulse. Some within the Common Room’s orstaring in concentration at screens that give off nately sculpted walls are there to reflect on the a light blue glow. Above them, prism lamps at- deepest implications of their course material — tached to the wall beam light directly onto the others to cram for a test on the third floor in 15 tables. minutes. Whatever they’re there for, however, In the stone walls of the first floor, the Ca- almost everyone ends up walking through the thedral hides some steps. There are many pas- room’s imposing iron gate at least once. sages into and out of the Commons Room, but “Here is eternal spring,” an inscription these ones aren’t immediately noticeable. Every above reads. “For you the very stars of heaven once in a while, a professor or student with a are new.” stack of books will emerge unexpectedly, startling those sitting on the other side. By the Maggie primarily writes creative nonfiction main gate are two massive limestone columns. and about student life for The Pitt News. Write Upon further inspection, each reveals a dim, to her at mmk93@pitt.edu. cramped, hidden staircase leading to the secThe Pitt News is looking for students interond floor. ested in creative writing, including creative nonA girl wearing a white long-sleeved shirt fiction, poetry and short stories to write for the with fall leaves on it works at the end of one of Opinions section. If interested, please contact the long rectangular tables. Her laptop is open opinions@pittnews.com.

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cartoon

Daniel Spack STAFF CARTOONIST

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November 10, 2017

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Sports

TPN’s ACC football power rankings online

TAR HEELS TRAMPLE PANTHERS, 34-31 David Leftwich Senior Staff Writer

Despite a four-touchdown performance from junior Panther running back Darrin Hall, the North Carolina Tar Heels outlasted the Pitt football team at Heinz Field.

In a nationally televised back-and-forth game under the lights, the Panthers (4-6 overall, 2-4 ACC) couldn’t keep up with two fourth-quarter touchdowns from the North Carolina Tar Heels (2-8 overall, 1-6 ACC) en route to a 34-31 loss.

“Nobody wants to lose, just the way we are losing,” junior defensive back Jordan Whitehead said. “ ... We left a lot of plays out there.”

Highlighting a first quarter in which both teams struggled to piece together an offensive drive, two big plays from the Tar Heels gave them an early edge on the Panthers.

On the opening kickoff, the Tar Heels returned the ball 98 yards for a touchdown to take control of the game with a 7-0 lead.

Responding with a kickoff return into Tar Heels territory, the Panther offense stalled and redshirt first-year kicker Alex Kessman drilled a 42-yard field goal to put the Panthers on the board, 7-3.

After both teams traded punts, the Tar Heels found success through another big play.

Sophomore quarterback Nathan Elliott found sophomore receiver Anthony RatliffWilliams for a 40-yard one-handed catch to put the Tar Heels in the red zone. Two plays later, Elliott threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to extend the Tar Heels lead to 11 at 143.

“I kind of tipped it back to him and he made a great play,” Whitehead said.

Despite trailing by double digits at 14-3 to end the quarter, the Panthers worked their way back into the game during the second quarter.

Opening the second quarter with a big play, redshirt sophomore quarterback Ben DiNucci found Hall streaking down the left sideline for a 30-yard completion. Hall

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Junior running back Darrin Hall (22) scored four touchdowns last night during the Panthers’ 34-31 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Christian Snyder CONTRIBUTING EDITOR finished off the drive on the next play with a 7-yard touchdown run to cut into the Tar Heels lead, 14-10.

After a Tar Heels punt, the Panthers running attack found its footing. Capping off a 38-yard drive consisting of all running plays, Hall punched in a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Panthers up 17-14.

Piecing together their first extended drive of the game, the Tar Heels responded with a drive into Panthers territory. Scoring off a trick play, Ratliff-Williams threw a 35-yard touchdown to junior receiver Josh Cabrera for the Tar Heels to retake the lead at 21-17.

“We saw them talking about, ’That kind of long play drive caught us off guard and they got us with that trick play,’” Whitehead said.

“Great call.”

The Panthers found more success on the

ground in their next drive and moved the ball deep into the red zone. On the goal line, junior wide receiver Quadree Henderson fumbled the ball and the Tar Heels returned the ball to the Panthers 34-yard line.

The Panthers defense forced the Tar Heels to settle for a 51-yard field goal, putting North Carolina up 24-17 with 37 seconds left in the half. Unable to make any progress in so little time, the Panthers offense walked off the field down 24-17 as time expired in the first half.

In spite of three momentum-swinging plays from the Tar Heels, the Panthers managed to outgain the Tar Heels offense on the back of a strong running game in the first half.

“We did a great job running the football,” head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Darrin Hall

November 10, 2017

was a man again today.”

Sticking with their ground attack, the Panthers opened the second half with a nineplay, 75-yard touchdown drive. Rushing for his third touchdown of the game, Hall tied the game at 24 apiece.

Answering with their own extended drive, the Tar Heels offense came right back down the field. Pitt’s defense forced the Tar Heels to settle for a 48-yard field goal to give them a 27-24 lead.

Pitt opened the fourth quarter with the ball, allowing Hall and the Panthers’ running game to continue dominating the Tar Heels defense.

Rushing the ball on eight of the nine plays in their next drive, the Panthers drove 75 yards. Hall punched in his fourth touchdown See Football on page 7

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Bigelow, pg. 2

of the night on a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Panthers up 31-27.

The Tar Heels missed a field goal on their next drive, but after forcing a quick Panthers punt worked their way into the red zone. Elliot finished off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to put the Tar Heels up 34-31 with a little more than six minutes remaining in the game.

After a few first downs to start the Panthers’ next drive, the Tar Heels defense forced the Panthers to punt the ball away with 2:54 remaining in the quarter.

The Panthers defense couldn’t stop the Tar Heels’ ground attack and eventually the Tar Heels ran out the clock to seal their 34-31 victory.

“We’re not done, we’re not going to throw in the towel, but it was a hard loss,” Hall said.

“We’re going to come back, watch the film and get better and prepare for Virginia Tech.”

Heading into their final two games of the regular season, the Panthers take on No. 17 Virginia Tech Saturday, Nov. 18, in Blacksburg, Virginia, as they look to win their final two games to become bowl eligible.

members of the community and added another beneficial component to the University’s master plan — a plan for what the University will be like in the next few decades.

“We’re looking at incorporating many different areas in that master plan like sustainability, design and landscape,” Cooks said. “From earlier community sessions we’ve held, we’ve got some early returns that I think are very complimentary to this project.”

The audience at Thursday’s forum spoke about the plan differently. Several Oakland residents said they were concerned the plan didn’t account for traffic congestion issues which often result from Bigelow being one of the main connecting streets between Forbes and Fifth.

Marshall Goodwin, an Oakland resident, said the pedestrian crosswalk cutting down the middle of Bigelow currently causes issues with motor traffic backups and will only continue to be a problem with the new plan.

“That mess of the students crossing whenever they want to,” Goodwin said. “Since you started doing that it’s been a traffic issue that everyone in the City who drives through Oakland is aware of. The obvious solution is for them to

use the crosswalks on the corners.”

In exchange for the many additions contributing to Bigelow’s improvement, a number of parking spaces will be removed from Bigelow and Fifth Avenue as a result. The area around Oakland as of 2016 has 327 parking spots, but the plan will reduce that number to 275.

Miller said City findings showed that at peak times, the 327 spots were not all in use, prompting the possible reduction from their traffic studies.

“The improvements we want to see unfortunately sometimes come with trade-offs,” Cooks said regarding the parking decrease.

The final decision on the complete plan for Bigelow falls into the hands of the Pittsburgh Art Commission, which manages the aesthetic quality of public City spaces, Miller said. It will pass through an initial meeting in January where the commission reviews the plan and finalizes the details before moving to the final meeting in February, when the Art Commission will make its decision.

“This is one of those places where there’s a lot of increasing density and there’s a lot of money spent on these buildings,” Miller said. “And there’s a big opportunity with that to actually improve the character of some of these streets.”

The Pitt news crossword 11/10/17

Football, pg. 6

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